A guide to understanding spaghetti diagrams

What is a spaghetti diagram?

A spaghetti diagram is a visual tool that tracks the movement of materials, information, or people through a process. Unlike a standard process flow chart, it specifically maps the physical path traveled, showing the routes and distances.

The diagram gets its name from its appearance—when you draw all movement paths on a single map, they often resemble tangled spaghetti strands. Each line represents a different journey within the workspace.

You can use this type of workflow diagram to identify inefficient layouts, unnecessary travel, and wasted motion. By seeing where backtracking or long distances occur, you can reorganize workspaces to create smoother flows and reduce wasted time and effort.

A spaghetti diagram template helps teams visualize problems that might otherwise remain hidden, making them valuable for process improvement initiatives in software development, office environments, and service operations.

Common use cases of spaghetti diagrams

Development teams frequently use spaghetti diagrams to streamline their workflows. A couple of common spaghetti diagram examples are:

• Tracking information paths through complex systems
• Mapping handoffs between departments. 

Digital product teams can use spaghetti diagrams to identify bottlenecks in code review or deployment processes, while project managers use them to optimize cross-functional collaboration.

During collaborative meetings, teams can track physical movement through office spaces, highlighting opportunities to rearrange workstations for smoother interactions. Product managers can also follow customer journeys through applications, pinpointing confusing navigation patterns that increase user frustration.

Spaghetti diagrams also prove valuable during project collaboration sessions when teams must understand how information flows through various stakeholders. They transform brainstorming sessions by visualizing idea development pathways, showing where concepts get stuck or duplicated.

How to create a spaghetti diagram

Creating a spaghetti diagram is straightforward and can be done manually or digitally. Start by selecting a process to analyze and sketch a physical or digital workspace map. Observe and document actual movement paths, using different colors to distinguish between people, materials, or information flows. You can draw these diagrams by hand on paper or use online whiteboards for a collaborative, real-time approach.

Choose a process to analyze

Start by selecting a specific workflow that needs improvement. The ideal process has clear boundaries with defined starting and ending points. You might analyze how code moves through a development pipeline, how team members navigate during sprint planning, or how information travels between departments during product launches. Focus on processes where inefficiency creates bottlenecks or delays progress.

Gather data

Collect accurate information about movement patterns by observing the process in action. Track people's paths during meetings, count how often team members switch between tools, or measure time spent transferring work between groups. Use timestamps to track duration and frequency. This real-world data provides the foundation for meaningful analysis and prevents assumptions from skewing your results.

Create a physical map of the space

Draw the environment where the process occurs—this could be your office layout, digital workspace, or virtual collaboration environment. Include key elements like desks, meeting areas, servers, and shared resources. For digital processes, map out the different systems, tools, and platforms team members navigate. This baseline map provides context for the movement patterns you'll document.

Trace the pathways

Now, draw lines showing actual movement through your mapped space. Use different colors to represent various people, materials, or information flows. Draw actual paths taken, not ideal routes. Include every movement, even when paths cross or backtrack. The more accurate your representation, the more valuable your analysis will be. Mark the sequence of movements to show the complete journey through the process.

Analyze and identify improvement areas

Examine your completed diagram for inefficiencies like excessive travel distances, redundant movements, or bottlenecks where paths converge. Look for areas with dense, tangled lines indicating complexity or confusion. Identify opportunities to rearrange workspaces, reduce handoffs, or eliminate unnecessary steps. Propose specific changes that simplify movement patterns and create more direct paths.

For example, a logistics company might use a spaghetti diagram to track warehouse workers' movements when picking and packing orders. If the diagram reveals frequent backtracking, the company can optimize storage layouts to minimize unnecessary walking, improving efficiency and reducing fulfillment times.

Best practices for using spaghetti diagrams

Remember these key tips to maximize the value of your spaghetti diagram:

• Focus on capturing one process at a time rather than trying to document everything simultaneously. This targeted approach prevents visual clutter and keeps your analysis manageable. Use consistent line styles and colors to distinguish between people, materials, and information flows.
• Include relevant metrics alongside movement paths, such as time spent, distance traveled, or frequency of trips. These quantitative details transform your diagram from a simple visualization into a powerful decision-making tool.
• Involve the actual process participants in creating and reviewing the diagram. Their firsthand experience often reveals nuances that outside observers might miss.

For teams new to process mapping, you can use a process map template to establish a foundation for your spaghetti diagrams. If your analysis includes multiple workflow types, consider using flowcharts alongside spaghetti diagrams to compare structured steps with actual movement patterns.

Review and refresh your diagrams quarterly to ensure they reflect current workflows as your processes evolve.

Example of a spaghetti diagram

A good spaghetti diagram example is how a software development team handles bug reports. In this scenario, the diagram tracks a reported bug from initial discovery through resolution.

The layout includes the customer support desk, QA testing area, developer workstations, and management offices. Red lines trace the bug report's journey, revealing that issues bounce between departments multiple times before resolution. The diagram shows the bug traveling from support to development, back to support for clarification, management for prioritization, back to development, and finally to QA before reaching the customer again.

This visualization immediately highlights excessive handoffs and communication gaps. The team uses this insight to implement a streamlined triage process where support and development collaborate directly on initial assessment, reducing resolution time and eliminating unnecessary transfers between departments.

Create a spaghetti diagram with Confluence whiteboards